In another life
by corkin89
Summary: Harry Potter raised by Albus and Minerva...focuses mainly on childhood.plz read and review with a cherry on top. I plan to have other stories later on
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: WE OWN NOTHING!!!!!!!! (personally we would love to but alas…we don't.)

Chapter 1

Minerva McGonagall had been sitting on the garden wall of Number 4 Privet Drive all day. She, in her animagus tabby cat form had been watching the Dursleys all day. She didn't like them one bit. The wife was nosey, the husband proud and that son of theirs was the most spoiled child she had ever seen. She had seen a lot of spoiled children, after all she had been teaching at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for nearly twenty-four years. The reason she had been sitting on a cold, hard wall all day:she was waiting for one Albus Dumbledore, the greatest hero of her world. The magical world that is. He was coming here to supposedly give Harry Potter to this family, his aunt and uncle. She couldn't believe it, wouldn't believe it, until she heard it from him.

Her eyes narrowed at the opposite end of Privet Drive. A man had just appeared out of thin air. He was tall, thin and quite old. He had a long white beard down to his waist and his hair was of the same length. He wore long midnight blue robes that greatly brought out his sparkling blue eyes. These were behind his half-moon glasses perched on his very crooked nose, which seemed to have been broken at least twice. This man was Albus Dumbledore. He glanced curiously at the cat crouched upon the wall of the house he was intending on going to. He laughed to himself as he pulled out a small silver instrument from his cloak and clicked it once at each of the various lampposts on the street, eliminating all of the light from this place, so that if you happened to be looking out of your window that night you would not be able to distinguish a single thing out and about on the street. He then put the small silver instrument back in his cloak pocket. He then walked down the street to the house. When he arrived however, in the place of the tabby cat who had occupied the wall all day was a stern looking woman with raven black hair tied back in a bun, and emerald green eyes. She wore dark green robes that were extremely conservative.

"Hello Albus" she said.

"Good evening Minerva. May I inquire as to why you are here and not celebrating with the rest of our kind?" Albus replied.

"I am here Albus because I want to hear it from you. Are the rumors true?"

"What rumors my dear Professor?"

"The ones which state that Lily and James Potter are dead and that their only son Harry survived when You- Know-Who attacked him."

"Alas, my dear, I am afraid they are indeed true."

"How is that possible? After all that has happened, all the people he has killed, and he couldn't kill a single child?" she remarked.

"I am afraid that we may never know Minerva."

"Albus, I also heard that you were bringing their son, Harry, here to live with these Muggles?"

"Yes, I am" he replied.

"You can't! They are the most terrible sort of people imaginable, trust me I know I've watched them all day! The way that they treat their son it's…. it's ridiculous! They simply will not treat him right Albus. You can't do this to the boy. Ridiculous!"

"They are the only family he has left. We simply have no choice Minerva." He said.

Minerva was silent for a while and then asked, "Where is the boy now?"

"Hagrid is bringing him" said Dumbledore.

"Hagrid? Do you think it wise to trust him with something as valuable as Harry?" she said and then seeing his hurt expression, she added, "I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place but well, he's just a bit clumsy that's all."

Just after she finished her sentence, a distant rumble unlike the cars going by on a nearby street could be heard from above them. Soon there was a steady beam of light heading for the ground. What landed on the street was a huge motorcycle and upon that motorcycle was an even larger man. This man was Rubeus Hagrid.

"Good evenin' Professors"

"Good evening Hagrid, how was your journey?" asked Dumbledore.

"Not bad, got ther' jus' before them muggles did, house was blown to bits though." Hagrid replied.

"Well give him here Hagrid, best get this over with." Albus said.

He took Harry from Hagrid's arms and Minerva rushed over to see him. She gently touched the lightening bolt scare on the child's head and said "Is that where….?"

"Yes, my dear, he'll have that scare for life." Albus replied as he put Harry down on the Dursley's front porch, took a letter from his cloak and tucked it into Harry's blankets.

All three adults silently looked at the sleeping toddler for a few moments before Hagrid broke the silence.

"Well, I gotta go give young Sirius Black back his bike. Nigh' Professors."

"Good night Hagrid." they both replied, and then he took off into the night.

When Hagrid had left Albus turned towards Minerva only to find tears in her eyes. He quickly gathered her into his arms and slowly rubbed soothing circles on her back. It hurt him to see this woman crying. After a few moments of standing like this, she spoke.

"Albus, do we have to leave him here? It just doesn't feel right leaving him here unsure of how he is going to be treated."

"Minerva, this is the only family he has left. It's best for him to grow up away from fame. After all he's only a child. But if it will make you feel any better we can come back in a few days to see if he's doing alright." He replied.

Minerva lifted her head off his chest and looked into his amazingly blue eyes and said, "Alright Albus. Thank you."

And so with that the pair walked to the end of the street, where Albus pulled out his small silver instrument known as a Putter-Outer and slowly clicked it once, and have doing so all of the light from the street lamps returned with a ferocious glow and then returned to their normal soft luminescence.

Then the two disappeared suddenly leaving the sleeping one-year-old known as "The Boy Who Lived" to sleep peacefully for a few more hours before being woken up by his screaming Aunt.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A/N : We are so sorry for the wait. We are in school now and it is very hard to write during the week. We hope that you understand. We can only post on weekends. Sorry! Also thank you all for the WONDERFUL reviews. This is our first fic so please go easy on us. Thanks again. - Corkin.

A few days later, it was breakfast at the Dursley residence and Harry Potter was lying in the cupboard under the stairs crying loudly because he was hungry and he could smell the wonderful scents of bacon and eggs coming from the kitchen. Also he was covered in dust and something was crawling across his leg. When Petunia rapped on the cupboard door his screams became a muffled whimper.

Then suddenly the doorbell rang very loudly. Vernon answered the door. There, standing in front of him was an old couple. The woman had raven black hair and emerald green eyes. She was wearing a pair of black slacks, with a white, silk blouse and black heels. The man was wearing khaki pants and ad ark blue button down shirt. He had twinkling blue eyes and a long white beard and hair.

"Mr. Dursley," said the man, "my name is Albus Dumbledore and this is my friend Minerva McGonagall. We're here to inquire about a child that was dropped off here a few nights ago. We were wondering about his well being."

Vernon just stood there gaping at the odd couple until Minerva said "Are you going to let us in, or are you going to stare at us like a blundering idiot?! It is quite cold out here!"

Vernon seemed to come out of his reverie at this moment and grumbled, "Come in." As they entered the tidy house, Petunia Dursley came into the parlor with a struggling Dudley Dursley on her hip.

"Petunia, dear this is Mr. Dumbledore and Miss. McGonagall, they are her about the brat" he said to his wife quit rudely.

"BRAT" Minerva exclaimed "that child is the hero of our world"

"He's abnormal" said Mrs. Dursley flatly

"He's perfectly fine. Where is he?" the Scottish woman snapped.

"That is none of your business" the Muggle woman spat right back.

Just then Minerva's keen ears picked up a muffled cry coming from somewhere in the house. She started to walk towards the sound. She stopped in front of door under the stairs, put her head to it, and listened for a moment and then opened the door.

"What the hell," she said as she leaned down and picked up the child, "Why do you have him in a closet? Who do you think you are? Come Albus, we're leaving!" And she walked out the front door with a sniffling, lent covered Harry on her hip.

Back at Hogwarts, Minerva was in her rooms trying to figure out where to put Harry for the night until she could get to Diagon Alley to purchase some baby supplies. She took out her wand and transfigured the chest at the end of her bed into a crib, set Harry down I it, and then one of her quills onto a bottle and then called for a house elf.

"Missy, please fill this with sisome warm milk for Harry" she asked her.

"Yes ma'am" Missy replied and the disappeared with a pop.

Not two seconds after Missy left there was a knock on McGonagall's door, she answered it.

"Hello, Albus," she said, "You're not going to tell me to give back, are you? Because I simply wont allow it"

"No, Minerva." He replied calmly, " I was simply going to ask if you wanted to see about any other options for Harry. What I mean to say is that do you think you can raise a child at your age" Albus paused and waited for a response, when he received none, he continued, "With all of your other responsibilities are you sure you can handle this"

Minerva looked at him for a moment and the said, walking towards him slowly, "Albus, I have been ready for this for a long time. Ever since I got pregnant with Emma. Then, when I lost her, I thought I would never get another chance. Eventually I got too old to even think about having children of my own again; but with Harry, it's like I've been given a second chance. With Harry I get to be a mother! Yes. Albus I am sure about this." She took the final step towards him, put her arms around his neck and looked in his eyes

"As for being able to handle it, that's what you're her for isn't it, to help me out"

At this Albus chuckled softly and said "Of course, my dear. I will help you." And he leaned down to give her a tender kiss.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N- So it's been a few years since I updated this story and I am very sorry to those who started to follow in the beginning.

Chapter 3-Revenge is Sweet

The next morning Minerva went to Diagon Alley to get baby supplies for Harry after placing a glamour charm to cover his scar. Her and Albus had decided nobody outside the professors at Hogwarts should know that Harry was with them. It had only been a week since Voldemort had been vanquished and shops were still only just starting to reopen so there were very few options for Minerva. She went into Madam Malkin's and was greeted by the kind shop owner.

"Hello Minerva, how are you today. and who is this adorable baby boy?" she asked.

"Hello Ida, I am well , this is my great nephew James. I took custody of him after his parents were killed in the final rampage by Death Eaters." Minerva replied. "I was watching him that night."

"Yes, there were several children left without parents that night, including little Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter. It is very sad indeed." Ida said shaking her head. Anyway, how can I help you today? "

"Well, all of James' belongings were lost in the fire the Death Eaters set to house. I need to buy some clothes for him" Minerva replied.

"Well then let's get started."

By the time Minerva left Madam Malkin's, she had several sets of baby robes that were charmed to grow with him for the next six months. She continued to shop and when she returned to Hogwarts later that day she had all of the supplies a magical child of eighteen months would need: magical books including The Tales of Beedle the Bard, in which the pictures move to help the child understand better, a child's broom that only floated about two feet in the air and a small wand that shot no-burn sparks when a child waved it and several other educational toys.

When Albus walked into their chambers and saw all the toys strewn about he chuckled to himself, his wife was going to spoil little Harry. Albus had not really like the idea of the child growing up at Hogwarts, he needed him to be tough when he was older and to trust Albus explicitly when he returned to the magical world when he was eleven. Having the child here though placed him in an even greater position to gain his trust, he'd just have to find some other way to make the boy strong, mentally and physically. Minerva did not know any of the ulterior motives behind Albus' decisions, and she would not be happy if she did. His thoughts were interrupted by their subject walking into the room.

"Oh Albus, I didn't hear you walk in.'

"I'm sorry my dear, I was thinking we should probably tell the staff that Harry is here today at the meeting. They would be delighted to see him, although Severus may not be so happy to be James' child." Albus said

"Yes, Severus can hold a grudge longer than any goblin, and he does have his reasons. James and the Marauders were never really punished for the way they treated him. I should have been harder on the boys, they were cruel to Severus , even if James to later apologize to Severus for nearly getting him killed, Sirius never did. Maybe that should have been a sigh to us of his dark nature and eventual betrayal. "

"You are correct as usual, Min." Albus said, sighing.

At the staff meeting later that day Albus told the professors about Harry's treatment by his relatives and about his and Minerva's guardianship of the boy. The reactions of the professors were all pretty much the same across the board: anger at the Dursleys and relief that Harry had been removed from that situation. Even Severus was angry, not just at the Dursleys, but also at Albus. He knew how jealous and bitter Petunia was at Lily for being magical and leaving her behind in the Muggle world and Albus knew also, he should have known Petunia would not treat Lily's child right.

"Do you expect us to help you raise the child, Albus?'' Severus asked.

"You do not have to have any interaction with the child if you do not wish to Severus," Albus replied, "although he will grow up here, so you will see him eventually. This concludes the staff meeting for today. Have a good day, I will see you all at dinner.''

Everybody got up and started to leave, Madam Pomfrey walked up to Severus after the meeting. She was one of the few people not in the order who still treated Severus fairly even before it was made known that Severus was a spy among the Death Eaters.

"Madam Pomfrey, how may I assist you?''

"Hello Severus, I was just letting you know that I needed some potions for my supplies in the infirmary."

"Which ones do you need?''

"Nutrition potions, bone mending potion, bruise salve, pepper-up potion and fever potion. " the medi-witch replied.

"I will get them to you in a week. "

"Thank you, Severus."

A week later Severus took the potions up to the infirmary. When he walked into the school's hospital he saw that Minerva was sitting on one of the beds with a small, dark haired child in her lap.

"Hello Severus, would you like to meet Harry?''

Severus walked up to the bed intending to tell the older woman that he had no desire whatsoever of being involved with the spawn of James Potter. That was until he saw the child's eyes. They were the same brilliant green as Lily's, and then the child did something else completely unexpected: he smiled at him and reached up to Severus like he wanted to be held by Severus. He felt a little smug at the notion if James Potter's child wanting to be held by Severus Snape. Potter would be rolling in his grave. Severus picked up the child and smiled back. Revenge was sweet, he would help raise Potter's son.


End file.
